LEADERSHIP AND TRAINING FOR THE FIGHT: A FEW THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP AND TRAINING FROM A FORMER SPECIAL OPERATIONS SOLDIER
This book will pursue an honest and frank discussion of leadership and training that is applicable to the military, law enforcement and the business world. It provides accounts of leadership successes and failures under the most severe conditions.Product Details
Customer Reviews
Terribly Disappointed
More like "Leadership (sort of) and Complaining for the Fight: The World's Problems According to a Former Special Operations Soldier"
The beginning is very promising, with the explanation of the "OODA loop" and a general view of how combat works, and more importantly how it is won. Unfortunately, this barely lasts to the end of the first chapter before it devolves into one long and relentless rant that continues until you finally trudge through to the last page.
Basically the author takes every opportunity possible to lash out at everything he finds to be a problem in the world today, from the current structure of the American military to the general activities of our nation's youth (or at least what he believes are the general activities of the American youth). "Too many times" probably appears in the book fifty times, if not in exact wording then with a similar statement such as "All too often," or "We as Americans."
He makes countless derisive comments about the division of officers and enlisted men, most notably "Who would you rather have lead you into combat? The guy with 4 years experience or the guy with 4 years of college?" and shows a complete lack of understanding of the actual legitimate reasons behind this ancient military tradition of class divisions that is close to embarrassing.
He also makes his attitude concerning religion very clear, and in a narrative describes a commanding officer who is upset at the troops' rowdiness after a successful mission and tells them to relax, as there are people out there who lost their loved ones that night. The author does not say so directly, but implies his disgust with this sentiment, and attributes his officer's statement to his being a former chaplain, and letting his religion "get in the way." At another point in the book, he brings up with similar implied disgust, the account of an officer who held church sessions at the base on Sundays. Apparently this is a horrid crime against humanity. What makes the whole situation even more ridiculous is in one of his narratives, he retells that his team arrested two men in a village who had used their children as shields when the soldiers entered the room. He never specifically mentions any other villagers are arrested, but makes it extremely clear how angry he was at the two fathers and their most repulsive behavior. He justifies his hypocrisy of letting his own values influence the mission by saying that the two men turned out to be high-ranking enemy militiamen, as if saying "But they were bad anyway, so it's ok."
Chapter 3 starts off basically as a figurative spanking of all the terribly selfish and unethical things the American youth allegedly do, all while maintaining the general arrogant tone found throughout the rest of the book, and ending with a smug "You're welcome." He attacks the general literacy of these same kids in at least one other place, which is laughable considering the pervasive grammatical and spelling errors found throughout the book because he refused to have it proofread. So what does any of this have to do with leadership and training? Good question... I wondered that myself, maybe he should have emphasized the "Few" word in the subtitle.
I will admit that when purchasing this book, I assumed there would be portions of the "training" sections I would not understand, and I was ok with that. I was however hoping to be able to count more than two useful things I learned from the book, and sadly I cannot. The OODA loop was #1, and #2 is a short tip on when training with simunitions, to never allow the trainees to "die" when hit, as this will encourage the "shut-down" attitude in the field when they are really hit. Of course, even this was degraded slightly from its full potential because it was immediately followed by another "Too many times" statement.
He states in the foreword not to "Trip over dollar bills to pick up pennies." and perhaps that is exactly what I am doing now. Maybe I'm too uppity about this, and if you are confident that you're extremely tolerant, perhaps you will get more out of this book than I did. Even yet, I would recommend countless other books on this similar subject before I even mention this one.
Perhaps I should answer that question of his I mentioned earlier. "Who would you rather have lead you into combat? The guy with 4 years experience or the guy with 4 years of college?" I will answer the guy with 4 years experience, but I have a more relevant question: Who's book would you rather read? The one written by the guy with 4 years experience or the guy with 4 years of college? Do yourself a favor and choose the latter.
Required Reading
The author is successful is merging his experiences and philosophy into a high readable book. I must disagree with another reviewer who recommends this should be required reading for NCOs. I will add it should be required reading for all of those who serve in harm's way (police/military/security). The information is not necessarily new but the author's approach is refreshing and very down to earth. It is in my rucksack..
Highly recommended for the dedicated leader
This is one of the best books I have ever read on leadership. The author outlines a realistic approach with proven techniques. I've grown tired of all the silly communication methods and manipulations, found in the flood of many books on the market, on how to motivate those under your supervision. Paul Howe knows how to lead. If you are truly interested in leadership, this book is highly recommended. On the other hand, if you are looking for quick fixes and feel good techniques, you should move on to a management in corporate America style book. There are many to choose from.
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